Facebook fine for misleading EU on take-over of Whatsapp

Europen Union ( EU ) commission in a press release on Tuesday stated, Facebook mislead info on take of whatsapp in October 2014. The commission sent a statement of objections to Facebook on take over of social messaging app Whatsapp with misleading and incorrect information, that was againt the EU policy. At the time of take over of whatsapp, Facebook stated, they are unable to match user account data of whatsapp to user mobile number effectively.

In August – 2016 whatsapp linked user account with corresponding Facebook ID. Although this is not applied to users in Europe till, But the Commission says it has found another, bigger problem with Facebook being able to access user’s WhatsApp data. It alleges that Facebook had the technical capabilities to do this all along and therefore this prove that Facebook provided misleading info back in 2015 on taking over of whats app.

When two social app like Facebook and WhatsApp join together, the EU investigates whether the deal would hurt consumers or businesses operating in Europe. On that time Facebook provided information on table give Facebook signal to proceed the deal, but this decision, be trouble for Facebook now, because of sharing account’s information between Facebook and whatsapp.

EU in a statement stated that;

“The current investigation is limited to the assessment of breaches of procedural rules. As the Commission’s October 2014 decision to clear Facebook/WhatsApp was based on a variety of factors going beyond the possibility of matching user accounts, the current investigation will not have an impact on that decision which remains effective. The current investigation is also unrelated to neighbouring privacy, data protection or consumer protection issues.

Facebook now has now until 31 January 2017 to respond to the Statement of Objections. If the Commission’s preliminary concerns in this case were confirmed, the Commission could, impose a fine of up to 1% of Facebook’s turnover (under Article 14(1) of the EU Merger Regulation).”

The Spokesperson form Facebook stated, “We respect the Commission’s process and are confident that a full review of the facts will confirm Facebook has acted in good faith,”. On formal response from Facebook the commission would proceed the hearing. Just for info, EU is well known in taking time for their decisions. More there in no legal deadline for commission in completing inquiry.

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